Leclerc on Top of Free Practice 3 at Zandvoort

Charles Leclerc goes into qualifying later this afternoon for the FIA Formula 1 World Championship Dutch Grand Prix in the best way possible, as the five-time race winner ended Free Practice 3 ahead of George Russell by the narrowest of margins.

Despite the two red flags we saw yesterday, there seemed to be a lack of urgency when it came to heading out onto the track. However, the slow start to the session didn’t deter Max Verstappen from flying out of the garage and clearing Ferrari’s F1-75 by half a second and exceeding his best time in yesterday’s Free Practice Two, setting a lap time of 1.12.309.

Scuderia Ferrari were quick to pick up their pace as Leclerc slotted in to take second place, setting a timed lap five tenths off of the current World Champion’s opening lap, with his teammate Carlos Sainz a further two tenths behind.

By the end of the first run, the grid looked very different. Leclerc’s car was surrounded by Ferrari engineers mid-way through the session, despite them insisting there was “no issue” and Leclerc set the fastest time of 1.11.632 on the soft compound tyres with 14 minutes left.

George Russell went second for Mercedes AMG Petronas, falling short of first position by 0.066s, whilst Verstappen, who held an early benchmark at the beginning of practice came in third and wound up 0.161s off Leclerc’s pace.

The final practice session of the Dutch Grand Prix has proven the fight for pole position will be tight as the top three drivers are separated by a narrow margin of 0.161s. At the end of the close-cut session, the top ten are Leclerc, Russell, Verstappen, Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Mick Schumacher and Landon Norris.

It seemed that Verstappen had claimed his place at the top, but with Leclerc setting the faster lap, and such narrow margins between the top ten drivers it’s all to play for in this afternoon’s qualifying.